Upwards Lightning?

On the authority of Hudhayfah ibn Al-Yaman, may Allah be pleased with him, the Messenger of Allah - ﷺ - said:

Allah the Glorified will gather all of mankind [on the Day of Resurrection], and the believers will stand until Jannah is brought close to them. They will approach Adam - ﷺ - and say:

Our father, ask Allah to open Jannah for us.

He would respond:

And what has removed you from Jannah except your father’s error? I am not the one for this [task], go to my son Ibraheem, the Khaleel of Allah.

They approach Ibraheem and he says:

I am not the one for this task, I was only a Khaleel through Jibreel [said out of humility]. Go to Musa, the one whom Allah spoke to directly.

So they approach Musa and he says:

I am not the one for this task, go to 'Isa; a word and Ruh from Allah.

So 'Isa says:

I am not the one for this task.

So they approach Muhammad - ﷺ -, and he asks for permission, and it is granted for him. The trust and family ties are sent for, and they stand at the right and left of the Sirat. The first of you will pass like lightning.

I ask:

And what passes at the speed of lightning?

He responded:

Do you not see how it strikes then returns in the blink of an eye?¹

The following group will pass like the wind, and those after them will pass like birds, and then like the fastest of men. Their speed determined by their past actions. Your Prophet will be standing on the path saying;

My Lord! Safety, safety!

[People will continue to keep passing at slower and slower speeds] until their deeds can no longer carry them. A man will come who can no longer move except by crawling. Suspended at the sides of the Sirat are thorny clamps/hooks² that snatch those whom they are ordered to snatch. So there will be those who pass successfully but with injury, and those who are piled into the Fire.

By the One whose Hand Abu Hurayrah's life lies, the depth of the pit at the bottom of Jahnnam is at the distance of 70 years of travel.

Collected by Muslim

1. See a visual example of upwards lightning:

Some intresting facts about lightning:

1. Lightning bolts shooting upwards were first discovered in 1993 due to advancements in slow motion camera recordings, 1414H years after this was prophesied by the final Messenger Muhammad - ﷺ.


2. A typical cloud-to-ground lightning bolt begins when a step-like series of negative charges, called a stepped leader, races downward from the bottom of a storm cloud toward the Earth. When the lowermost step comes within 150 feet (46 meters) of a positively charged object, it is met by a climbing surge of positive electricity, called a streamer, which can rise up through a building, a tree, or even a person. When the two connect, an electrical current flows as negative charges fly down the channel towards earth and a visible flash of lightning streaks upward, transferring electricity as lightning in the process.

   What seems to be a single flash, is actually a series of return strokes of electrical energy reaching back up into the clouds. It is this upward moving light that we see and think of it as light traveling in a downward direction but the reality is that it travels in an upward direction.

   A visual demonstration of this concept can be seen in the following video captured at 7,207 images per second from ZT Research:


3. During lightning, the surrounding air is immediately heated up to the temperature of 29982 degrees Celcius (54,000 degrees Fahrenheit).


4. Lightning's extreme heat will vaporize the water inside a tree, creating steam that may blow the tree apart.


5. Each lightning bolt can contain up to one billion volts of electricity.


6. Lightning strikes have an average lifespan of 1-2 microseconds.


7. Lightning travels at 300,000,000 kmh (200,000,000 mph) / 96561 km (60,000 m) per second.


8. About 100 bolts of lightning strike Earth’s surface every single second.


9. Without thunderstorms and lightning, the earth-atmosphere electrical balance would disappear in 5 minutes.


10. Lightning produces ozone-producing chemicals.


11. Recent studies have found that lightning increases the atmosphere's ability to cleanse itself.


12. Lighting bolts are powerful enough to break the strong bonds of nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere. Once split, they are converted into a form that can be absorbed by plants (nitrates). Along with the lightning, raindrops with the nitrates fall to the ground and seep into the soil fertilizing plants.


13. It is estimated that worldwide, about 9.4 million tons of nitrogen is converted into an available form and deposited on the earth every year.


14. Scientist do not fully agree on what causes the electric charge to be dispersed.

Sources:

^{(Oard, Michael (1997). The Weather Book. ISBN 0-89051-211-6.)}

^{noaa.gov (The National Severe Storms Laboratory)}

^{nationalgeographic.com}

^{science.sciencemag.org}

^{UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences}

2. Also see:

The Four Categories who Cross the Sirat

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